- The campaign council of the APC has asked the National Broadcasting Commission to sanction two TV stations
- The TV stations were accused of disparaging Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the APC
- Both stations, the petition said, went further to broadcast a fake letter in circulation, alleging INEC is investigating Tinubu
FCT, Abuja – The Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has petitioned the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to take actions against Arise Television and Channels Television for airing programmes to allegedly disparage its candidate, Bola Tinubu.
Bayo Onanuga, spokesman of the PCC in a statement seen by TopLatestNews on Monday, November 14 said one of its officials and former commissioner of information in Lagos state, Dele Alake, authored the petition against the two television stations.
Photo credit: @OfficialABAT
Source: Twitter
Alake said the two stations allowed guests on their shows to label Tinubu as “indicted” despite the evidence available to them.
His words:
“The case in question, which did not indict our candidate, has since been overtaken by events after interrogation and correspondences between then Inspector General of Police, Tafa Balogun in 2003 and the United States government.
“The US Justice Department in a letter dated 4th February, 2003, issued by the Lagos Consulate of the United States Embassy cleared our candidate. The letter was signed by Michael Bonner, the Consulate’s legal attache.”
Alake said the media houses violated sections 3.3.1, 5.1.2, and 5.1.3 of the Code of the NBC.
He added:
“Our presidential candidate was vilified and denigrated as an indicted offender and law breaker in the US court case by ARISE TV and Channels TV during their broadcasts in the last week, such as The Morning Show and Politics Today respectively.
“Section 3.1.2 of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code also states that-
‘The Broadcaster shall not transmit any programme, programme promotion, community service announcement or station identity which is likely in any circumstance to provoke or perpetuate in a reasonable person intense dislike, serious contempt or severe ridicule against a person or groups of people..
“For the effect of reference of powers to sanction erring broadcasters, The Code states in Chapter One, Section 1.1 (h) ‘The Power to establish and disseminate the code is derived from the provisions of Section 2 (1) (h) of the NBC Act, which is its enabling law.
“We hereby request the National Broadcasting Commission to sanction the offending Stations in the name of justice and in protection of the rights of our candidate as well as avoidance of future reoccurrence.”
2023: Daniel Bwala says Tinubu may be disqualified from presidential race
Recall that aspokesman for the Atiku/PDP presidential campaign, Daniel Bwala on Thursday, November 10 said Tinubu may be disqualified from contesting the 2023 presidential elections over his connection to a drug trafficking case in the United States of America.
Bwala who is a lawyer made the comment during his appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today, saying:
“I’m afraid that the conclusion of this case is that, from the eyes of the law. Bola may be disqualified from contesting if the matter goes to court. Narcotics and money laundering, whether in Nigeria or the United States, is a criminal offence.”
Tinubu was neither indicted nor convicted of drug trafficking – Fani-Kayode
On his part, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, a member of the APC presidential campaign council has stated that Tinubu was neither indicted nor convicted of drug trafficking or anything else in the United States of America or anywhere else.
Fani-Kayode made the comment in a Facebook post on Wednesday, November 9 in response to recent media reports that a U.S. court released certified true copies of Tinubu’s alleged drug dealing, money laundering case in Chicago.
The former minister of aviation blamed the reports on opposition parties in the country.
Source: TopLatestNews
